Boxes and containers



Oct. 30, 1962 E. T. STERNGART BOXES AND CONTAINERS Filed Nov. 50, 1960 FIG 4.

United States Patent Q 3,061,136 BOXES AND CONTAINERS Evelyn Tema Sterngart, 20 LaGuardia Ave, New York, N.Y. Filed Nov. 30, 1960, Ser. No. 72,669 Claims. (Cl. 220-20) This invention relates to boxes or containers, and particularly to those of compartmented construction and which can be used for containing many small articles such as paper clips, stamps, sewing items and numerous other small articles for use in the home or office.

It is an object of the invention to provide a box or container of this character which can be made from plastic material and which shall be of such construction that several of the containers can be used in multiple by being connected together, or else detached from one another and used separately.

It is an object of the invention to provide a box or container which, while being relatively flat or shallow, shall have a substantial number of compartments, thereby separating and holding numerous different articles.

It is an object of the invention to provide means by which a number of boxes may be connected in superimposed relation for sale or display in stores and for subsequent use in either separate or connected relation.

With these and other objects to be hereinafter set forth in view, I have devised the arrangement of parts to be described and more particularly set forth in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, in which an illustrative embodiment of the invention is shown:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, of a box or container constructed according to the invention, one of the cover members thereof being fragmentarily shown;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the container, the view being taken substantially on the line 33 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of two separate boxes or containers, and

FIG. 5 shows how the two separate containers may be united to enable the same to function substantially the same as the container of FIGS. 1 to 3 inclusive.

The improved box or container may be suitably made of plastic material, and in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, it includes a body portion generally indicated at 1. Provided in and forming a part of the body portion is a horizontal wall or partition member 2 which divides the body portion into upper and lower chambers respectively indicated at 3 and 4. The body portion 1 also includes a front wall 5 and a rear Wall 6 and the end Walls 7 and 8.

Extending across the interior of each of the chambers 3 and 4 are transverse vertical partitions 9 and 10 which serve to divide the interior of each of the chambers 3 and 4 into three compartments indicated respectively at 11, 12 and 13. While three of these compartments are shown in each chamber, it will be understood that this number can be increased or decreased according to the length of the box. It will also be understood that all parts of the body portion, including the walls and partitions thereof, are integrally formed of plastic material.

From the construction thus far described, it will be noted that the body of the box provides two sets of three compartments, one set of such compartments being directed upwardly and the other set facing downwardly. Each of the compartments is provided with a pivoted cover member 14, each of the cover members being hinged, as shown at 15, to the rear wall 6. Locking elements or suitable catches 16 are provided on the covers and front wall 5 for interengagement to hold the covers in closed position. Since a separate cover is provided for each of the compartments, access to any one compartment is obtained without exposing the contents of the remaining compartments.

In the construction disclosed, the covers which close the upper compartments in chamber 3 swing upwardly to open position, as indicated by the center open cover in FIG. 1, and the covers for the downwardly facing compartments, or those in the chamber 4, swing downwardly to open position as clearly seen in FIG. 3. The container or box can be readily reversed so that either one of the chambers 3 and 4 faces upwardly when it is desired to secure access to any one of the compartments therein. The arrangement described is such as to secure a relatively large number of separate compartments in a flat or shallow container, thus providing for the separation of numerous different articles in small space.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, two separate boxes of single chamber construction are placed back to back so that the efiect and function of the structure shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 inclusive is secured. In this arrangement, the two boxes 20 and 21 may be joined in connected relationship by means of adhesive strips 22 (FIG. 5) provided on the ends of the boxes. The two containers thus joined may remain in their connected relation during sale and display in stores, and they may be used in such connected relation or they may be separated and independently used. Also, while two of the containers may be connected together, this number may be increased.

The boxes constructed according to the invention provide a compact, easily stored means for holding many types of small articles. They may be used single or stacked and connected together in groups. The various compartments can be identified by color as indicated at 23 in FIGS. 4 and 5 or by number with respect to an accompanying chart. Various placements and uses of the boxes are possible.

Having thus described an embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the same is not to be restricted thereto, but is broad enough to cover all structures coming within the scope of the annexed claims.

What I claim is:

1. A container having a flat, elongated body provided with a central horizontal partition constituting a bottom for upper and lower chambers in the body, each of said chambers being divided into a plurality oTcompartments by vertical partitions, a separate cover fitting over and closing each compartment, each of said covers being operable independently of the others each of the covers being hinged to the rear wall of the body, the covers for the compartments in one of the chambers opening upwardly and being hinged to the same wall as the covers for the compartments in the other chamber and the covers for the compartments in the latter chamber opening downwardly.

2. A container composed of plastic material having a rectangular body of elongated form, said container body having a central longitudinal partition forming a bottom for upper and lower chambers in the body, front and rear walls on the body, transverse partitions co-operating therewith in dividing each of the chambers into a plurality of compartments, a hinged cover provided on each of the compartments, the covers on the compartments in one of the chambers opening downwardly and the covers on the compartments in the other chamber opening upwardly, all of the covers for all compartments being pivoted to the same wall, and closure means on the front wall of the body and on the covers for holding the covers closed.

3. A container comprising, a pair of relatively flat elongated boxes placed back-to-back, each of the boxes having a bottom, walls surrounding the bottom and cross partitions dividing each of the boxes into a plurality of compartments, each of the compartments being closed by a hinged cover, the covers on the compartments in one of the boxes opening upwardly, and the covers in the compartments in the other box opening downwardly, and means for attaching the boxes together in their back-toback relationship.

4. A container as provided for in claim 3, wherein the means which attaches the two boxes together is of a nature that it can be stripped away, leaving the two boxes capable of separate and independent use.

5. A container having a flat elongated body divided horizontally into upper and lower compartments by at least one horizontal partition member, upper and lower chambers in said compartments and located respectively above the partition member and formed by transverse partitions, covers pivotally attached to the rear wall of the upper compartment and fitting over and adapted to separately open or close any one of the chambers therein, covers pivotally attached to the rear wall of the lower compartment and fitting over and adapted to separately open or close any one of the chambers in said lower compartment, and closure means on the front walls of the covers co-operating with closure means on the front of the container to maintain the covers in closed position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,749,198 Berber June 5, 1956 2,765,576 Kurek Oct. 9, 1956 2,884,155 Hanson Apr. 28, 1959 FOREIGN PATENTS 453,705 Canada Dec. 28, 1948 OTHER REFERENCES Modern Packaging, June 1956 (page 239 relied on, copy in Scientific Library or Div. 40). 

